let me pretend

you're not dying

and

this plane can’t

fall

pretend

mothers

defy gravity,

time,

distance,

nature’s laws

pretend

you won’t leave,

pretend

mothers don’t leave,

pretend

we won’t be

motherless

 

let me pretend

tomorrow is

the year before,

pretend

this plane

carries us

to memory,

land

with the speed

of light

there,

we’ll hold hands

there,

we’ll dance

there,

we’ll laugh

break bread

with the ancestors

pretend

no more